Central Los Angeles : Honoring Japanese American Veterans

To commemorate Japanese Americans who served in the Vietnam War, a veterans memorial will be constructed at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo.

Similar to the monument in Washington, the Japanese American Vietnam Veterans Memorial will list on solid, black granite the names of Japanese American soldiers who died or are missing in action.

“As opposed to Japanese Americans who fought in World War II in their own [segregated] units and had a camaraderie,” said Ken Hayashi, 52, a Vietnam War veteran, “we were all in separate units and we’d be the only Asian American.”

Hayashi, who is the chairman of the Japanese American Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee, said at a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday that the group has been raising money to construct the monument since 1988, and that the project is slated to be completed and presented to the public Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at the center.

The monument will have the names of 114 dead or missing veterans, but Hayashi said he suspects there are more American soldiers of Japanese descent who died in the war that are not on the list because they did not have Japanese surnames.